Main Menu

Binge watchers, rejoice — a dedicated website has published a secret list of codes that will apparently unlock dozens of “hidden” films and TVs shows under new niche categories on the video streaming service — just in time for the winter months.

Netflix’s incredibly niche, personalised sub-genres have long captivated movie nerds, from “Steamy Crime Movies from the 1970s” to “Period Pieces About Royalty Based on Real Life”.

The genres, based on a complicated algorithm that uses reams of data about users’ viewing habits to recommend exactly what a particular user is into, number in the tens of thousands.

When Netflix thinks you’ll like sentimental Spanish-language dramas or gritty tearjerkers, they’ll show up on your home screen, but aside from that, they’re not easy to find.

But a simple web address trick has emerged showing how you can find any one of these genres simply by switching a number in a URL.

How does the Netflix genre codes work?

If you’re logged into Netflix, enter www.netflix.com/browse/genre/XXXX into your browser’s toolbar to bring up one of the thousands of genres in Netflix’s library.

“XXXX” is a series of digits – 1089 is “Mind-bending Movies”, for example; while 354 is “Movies Starring Matthew McConaughey” – currently a genre of one film.

Example URL: To access the list for “action & adventure,” you would add the code 1365, making your URL become:

https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/1365

Not all numbers will result in a sub-genre, and given Netflix’s ever-changing algorithms, they might move around every now and then, while there may be regional differences meaning that some codes don’t work.

Because the trick requires going to specific pages, this will only work on the Netflix website via a PC.

Unfortunately, that means it isn’t possible to do this on other hardware like a phone, games console or smart TV.

It is, of course, easy to find a film on a laptop and then search for it specifically on whatever other hardware you have.

Codes for the main genres are available here. At the foot of the list is a link to a list of even more.